cathedral windows
by trihalmentris
Summary: — it's a long process, but perhaps the whole picture would be worth it. - semi-linear drabbles on akabane karma & kanzaki yukiko on the road to understanding each other, and the silence that lingers in between.
1. chipped stone angels

_Ansatsu Kyoushitsu / Assassination Classroom_ rightfully belongs to _Yūsei Matsui_. I'm just a fan with an imagination working overtime.

* * *

 **i  
** **chipped stone angels**

Before his transfer to Class E, Akabane Karma only knew of her name at first.

(Well, he was also aware of another thing - if noting the ogling stares some of the guys of Class E would shoot at her general direction was amusing, then observing the eyes of both guy _and_ girl students from the main campus of Kunugigaoka watching her as she walked past was interesting in itself. Noting how the guys in particular would make such lopsided grins and husky whispers about her reminded him of how _pig-like_ other people could be, really.)

A lady of traditional Japanese grace and beauty, crowned as Class E's madonna. With hair as black as the night kept long and neatly cascading down her back, eyes of amber oh-so-warm and welcoming, and a gentle smile on her lovely face that could capture hearts. Even her name itself speaks of hope.

 _Maybe if an angel fell from the earth and took human form, she would be it, probably_ \- that's what he recalls some guy (probably someone from Class D, seeing as he looked awful) said about her one day: the laughter bubbling in his throat threatens to escape his lips, but instead he just walks away and heads up the mountain trail to Class E's building, grinning to himself.

(Angels don't hold _guns_ and _daggers_ \- they don't learn how to _assassinate_ either.)

Really, they give Kanzaki Yukiko too much credit.

* * *

1: i wasn't shipping anything much in ansatsu but then when i got to watching yukiko's intro episode i was looking at her... then at karma... then i fell to crackship hell ಥ_ಥ

2: i'll probably continue this daily drabble series until i finally get back to a writing mood again - i've been losing motivation + inspiration for months. (゜▽゜;)


	2. that has all made a difference

**ii  
that has made all the difference**

In Class E, there are two desks set at the far end of the room - fourth row, fifth seat and sixth row, fifth seat - two desks set for two special yet _lovable_ students.

( _Lovable_ perhaps wasn't the best word to describe a sadistic genius _and_ a burly delinquent, but Korosensei declared both to be such with an ever-present grin on his face.)

The _lovable_ students, however, spent a good half of their school time elsewhere rather than on their desks - seeing either one or _both_ desks at the back end of the classroom empty wasn't anything new, really.

(Terasaka Ryoma wasn't so subtle about cutting class anyway - even before Akabane Karma came in.)

The fourth row, fifth seat was another matter though: seeing the seat _occupied_ by its resident was probably as often as seeing Terasaka Ryoma _not_ being the lucky wearer of the strikingly accurate Naruto forehead protector, lovingly crafted by Korosensei himself - and worn by the unfortunate soul who was unable to answer (guess is more like it, as Nagisa would say) the ' _Question Of The Day About The Greatest Homeroom Teacher That Existed_ ' given _by_ their damned octopus of a homeroom teacher - for the rest of the class hour.

(Perhaps it wasn't much of joke when Okajima gleefully declared the forehead protector officially as Terasaka's property - who knew that _someone_ was dutifully keeping count of the times that poor Terasaka had worn the thing?)

It's not that Kanzaki Yukiko was taking note of everyone's attendance each morning, really - it's just that she found her mood to be lifted each time she would watch how Class E would start the day from where she was seated. For instance, there would be days that Yada Touka would struggle to bunch her damp hair up into a high ponytail, with Kurahashi Hinano or Hara Sumire usually helping her out depending on who would come in first. Okano Hinata would scold Maehara Hiroto at least twice a week about his unkempt uniform or something about shamelessly copying off homework from Isogai Yuuma, who was sandwiched in between them as they entered the classroom. Okajima Taiga always seemed to just _burst_ into the classroom talking about something... _exciting_ , and Kataoka Megu or Hayami Rinka would either roll their eyes or shake their heads at Okajima's sheer enthusiasm as he spoke.

And then there's Kayano Kaede and Nagisa Shiota - the former always chipper to say _good morning!_ to everyone upon entry, and the latter a punctual picture of calm.

A few days later after his transfer to Class E, there would occasionally be Kayano Kaede, Nagisa Shiota, and Akabane Karma; a trio chatting near the classroom windows in the mornings.

(It's gradual, but as days passed it wasn't that difficult to miss - Yukiko watches the lax, disinterested expression in Akabane's face appear less as he would converse with Nagisa at first, then in comes Kayano, and with a little push from both and even by Korosensei, he starts to converse with the other students of Class E. Occasionally her eyes would flit to him and lo and behold, other expressions would now cross his face asides from a toothy grin or a blank look. Just like how the morning events of Class E would be unpredictable, he too, was changing.)

A smile tugs at Yukiko's lips.

First there was green and blue, and now there was red added into the mix.

The fourth row, fifth seat seemed more occupied than it was before.

 _How pleasant_ , she whispers.

* * *

1: karma's that type of student who skips class, but enters the exact amount of days needed. how often does he enter in a week, tho?

2: i'm not so sure if i want a linear progression out of this... maybe semi-linear? also, daily drabbles are a lie - our connection's been acting up again. i'll still do my best to make this a daily thing, tho. hopefully. ( ᐛ )و


	3. spice things up

**iii  
** **spice things up**

* * *

One of the lunchtime groups inside Class E for the day was composed of five people (Karma, Nagisa, Kayano, Okuda, and Sugino) gathered around their table spread of different snacks (caramel pudding, pocky sticks, melon and custard bread, and three boxes of strawberry milk) and three bentos. The day was going by considerably slow, like how the few puffed out clouds would shift their location by drifting in the vast blue skies. The sun shone down nicely and cool breezes blowing through the window occasionally did little to ease the somewhat dreary, yet calm atmosphere - perfect for a nap under a tree.

A normal day was fine - but what was the use of entering class if nothing of interest was to happen? Leaning on the window, Karma's eyes shifted from looking at a puffy cloud to locking on at Nagisa's bento first, then to Okuda's, and then to Sugino's - all three of them too busy talking about something about academics along with Kayano, whose twitching fingers and watering mouth reached out for her pudding cup.

(He'd done it once before, when Nagisa wasn't looking: it wasn't really good, but not bad either. He asked Okuda one once, and she was happy to oblige: it was alright too, at least better than what he got from Nagisa. Sugino's, on the other hand... well, perhaps it's good timing that Sugino sat closest to where he was standing.)

Karma's about to reach out for his second strawberry milk box when Sugino, with blue eyes bright and some rice sticking to his chin, speaks.

"Kanzaki-san's really awesome at Japanese, isn't she?"

Kayano nods, before digging a spoon into her pudding. "She's _amazing_! I'm glad Korosensei didn't call on me to read today - today's piece was tough to read!"

"She read it smoothly though - and it was easy to understand the first passages when I listened to her," Nagisa says, before catching Sugino's attention. "Uh, there's some rice stuck..."

Okuda chews and swallows, before releasing a sigh. "I wish I could be as good as her... Do you think... it would be okay to ask her help sometime?"

"Of course it would be _okay_!" Sugino beamed, startling Okuda a bit. "Kanzaki-san's really kind, you know - I'm sure if we asked her nicely, she'd help us out!"

Kayano hums in agreement, while a grin finds its way on Karma's lips.

"Heh, never thought you'd be _that_ interested in Japanese, Sugino!" he says as he approaches the group table to pat Sugino lightly on the back. "Although, I guess it helps that the girl you _like_ is interested in it too, huh?"

(If the not-so-subtle stares Sugino would give Kanzaki during some parts of the day weren't indication of a growing crush, then Karma would probably consider buying glasses... or not. Some bits of video evidence he had - and most likely Koresensei had some too - would probably suffice as proof, plus Sugino wouldn't have enough heart to deny it if it was shown to him anyway.)

All eyes land on Sugino, whose face was profusely turning red by the minute, his mouth hanging agape and his chopsticks fell from his fingers. Kayano leans forward on her seat, a wide smile on her face and her spoonful of pudding miraculously left ignored.

"Sugino-kun, you _like_ Kanzaki-san!?"

" _I-I-I...! Ahhh, don't be too loud!_ "

"Wait, _you're_ the one being loud - "

And as Sugino attempted to save face, his lunch was left unguarded. Karma snickers as he took the last egg roll from Sugino's lunch and popped it into his mouth.

(As he chews slowly, his eyes a quick sweep of the classroom: others have now noticed and are laughing at how beet red Sugino's face has turned - including Kanzaki Yukiko herself, smiling nicely at their direction from where she sat.)

 _Ah, too sweet_.

* * *

1: did i mention this would be a slow burn? like a _really_ slow one? as much as i'd like to get writing some good stuff, the thing is with crack ships i prefer to establish / flesh out the pair's connection first.

2: sugino's crush on yukiko is the most obvious thing on class e - and yet everybody chooses to watch from the sidelines, wondering when yukiko will actually get a clue rather than helping sugino out. oh poor sugino.


	4. if rivers could speak

**iv  
if rivers could speak**

The day that the students of Kunugigaoka Junior High School were to depart for Kyoto, Akabane Karma could be found sitting on one of the train station's benches on his lonesome, eyes fixed on one object: his handheld console, or rather, its screen.

As the sun on the horizon slowly made the dim sky lighter, Karma congratulated himself for making the right decision of bringing the console in the first place - afterall, what was he to do while waiting for his groupmates or better yet, the whole of Class E to arrive? Stare at the train in silence? Return the taunts and jeers of the other Kunugigaoka students who held their ugly faces so high just because they were going to ride the first-class trains? Attempt to whack Korosensei with the damned guidebook of his that had who knows how many pages, which most likely the whole of Class E didn't bring due to the thing weighing like a _cement block_?

(While the latter options were amusing and would help pass time better than the first option, getting into trouble too early in the morning wouldn't be worth it and besides, the target was nowhere in sight... yet.)

So much for coming early - but then again, if he arrived a little later, perhaps it wouldn't make much of a difference.

A little later, amid the gathering crowd of students and the sea of voices and footsteps, a voice of calm reaches his ears.

"Good morning, Akabane-kun."

He looks up briefly and tilts his head to meet her eyes - amber looking at gold - and her solemn smile.

(For the record, he smiles back.)

"Good morning, Kanzaki-san."

(Ah, the joys of teasing Sugino after he was actually able to muster the courage to talk to Kanzaki Yukiko himself for the first time, and furthermore was able to invite her to join their group yesterday - whoever the fifth member of their group was spurred little interest in Karma but admittedly, when she accepted to join... well, the school trip now looked a little more interesting than it initially was - no doubt Sugino would have his attention solely on Kanzaki, and that's where potential pictures could spring about.)

She nods at him and she sits down on the bench, settling her bag on her lap and waits.

With nothing left to say, he resumes his game as he waits.

And as they wait, silence finds them and fills in the distance in between the two - it's on the bench and it sits right in between them and stares, watches, and even waits. It also listens, even for the slightest whisper.

But not a single word is said.

(However, in the presence of silence, they took comfort.)

* * *

1: the length of these drabbles are as variable as the days i actually update this, oops.

2: field trip call times are probably not that early as described, but how is it that people still manage to be late even if the call time's around 9 or something? that's punctuality for you, i guess.


	5. birds that don't sing

**v.  
** **birds that don't sing**

The train ride to Kyoto is riddled with countless conversations, card games, noise, movement, and exchanges of snacks.

It's nothing new at all for a whole class of middle schoolers, but maybe the change of venue has made everything much more observable and a lot more _audible_. The creeping grin on Okajima's face as he was discussing something with Chiba, the subtle shrinking away of Chiba's shoulders in perhaps an attempt to hear less. Kurahashi proudly declaring her victory with a brilliant smile in their twenty-first card game ever since the train departed, followed by the screams of frustration (and sometimes with a wad of cards being thrown in the air) coming from Rio, Kimura, Fuwa, and Hinata's mouths. The hardly contained snickers of Muramatsu and Yoshida as the latter, with shaking fingers and what seemed to be tears forming on his eyes, doodled on a snoring Teresaka's face with a pink marker. ( _It's washable, it'll be fine_ , Yoshida whispered in between snickers.)

Be it left or right, front or back, the section of the train Class E was in was abuzz with activity.

All the activity had probably worn out one Okuda Manami, as said girl fell fast asleep in her seat after she and Kanzaki had been dragged along by Kayano to play a couple of rounds of cards (they played five rounds, Kanzaki won four out of five), then dig into Hara's homemade snacks while chatting with her and Megu for a bit (Okuda _never_ had a bite of Hara's cooking, and that was quickly addressed), _then_ after that, joined in with Nagisa and Mimura in asking Isogai about the spots they were going to visit (Kayano let out a scandalized gasp when Isogai mentioned that they would be just passing through a famous sweets shop). By the time the trio had returned to their seats, they discussed a little more of their plans before Okuda's eyes had closed completely.

A few minutes later, her head nods off to her left side and eventually lands on Kanzaki's shoulder - with a smile, Kanzaki edges a little closer to let Okuda's head rest at a better angle. Kayano, with her wiggling eyebrows and a suggestive grin on her face, throws glances at Sugino. When he's finally noticed Kayano looking at his direction and returns her gaze with a questioning look, she tried mouthing _are you jealous_? She does this once, twice, and by the third time rolls around, she's practically _seething_ the words through her clenched teeth.

Sugino still doesn't get it.

Karma snorts at that, his eyes occasionally flitting from his console's screen and to his group. He's seated at the window seat, Sugino's seated beside him, Nagisa by the aisle seat and directly across them sat Kayano, Kanzaki, and Okuda respectively. Out of them six, he had shown or made little effort to leave from his seat, moving only to adjust his position and make himself comfortable. Resting his head on the window pane, noises coming from all sides of him - all varying in pitch, volume and tone - flood his ears but nothing seemed to fully register.

How the two girls managed to seemingly be in peace despite the chaos around them was beyond him.

His gaze would sometimes drift to looking at Okuda and Kanzaki, the former still in deep slumber with her mouth slightly parted while the latter sat straight in silence, her hands primly set on her lap and her eyes also closed shut. They sat there unmoving and also umovable by any turbulence, and soon enough even the rise and fall of their chests as they would breathe was almost in sync. The way how cozy Okuda settled on Kanzaki's shoulder seemed almost enviable in a way, and the serenity in Kanzaki's face all the more coaxed him to consider closing his eyes himself.

He doesn't, though. (And he'd tried. Briefly.)

But that doesn't stop him from sneaking glances at the sleeping pair from time to time either.

(And for that one hour and thirteen minutes, before Okuda had opened her eyes, Kanzaki Yukiko kept her posture straight and her friend's head comfortably rested on her shoulder, not one movement or a word of protest escaping her lips.)


	6. a cracked piece of amber

**vi.  
** **a cracked piece of amber**

A district with little to no signs of life. A notable number of back alleys are around the area, away from the main streets and prying eyes - the spaces were not too narrow for a small group to crowd in, but not too wide to allow people to exit or enter too freely as they please. Some of the alleys had surrounding buildings that were rather high, so little light hit these areas and the light posts present were too far from the back alleys to speak of. In addition, there seemed to be some old passageways in the alleys that could also be accessed by anyone - if used carefully to one's advantage, a sneak or a pincer attack could be possible assuming a well-thought out strategy and the proper people were in play.

Perfect for an assassination, Yukiko mused to herself as she noted the further areas of the Gion District into her itinerary with a smile on her face. Perhaps if she and her group were to visit and study the area themselves, they could brainstorm possible methods of attack while they surveyed the area, and afterwards they could report it to the whole class for consideration.

But now, as she stood in one of those alleys that she studied meticulously without anything to defend herself (or her group), she couldn't help but wonder if she was wrong for even considering the area in the first place - the toothy grins, perverse eyes, confident strides, and mocking voices of the three high schoolers that backed them further into the alley didn't help much for her already spinning thoughts.

 _It really is perfect_ , one high schooler had said.

 _Now why would you walk in an area like this, where abduction is a piece of cake_ , the other one added.

Faced with that question, the reality of their situation becomes painfully clear to her than it already had been earlier. Silly Kanzaki Yukiko, thinking too much of assassinations and how to possibly contribute to the cause without even considering her own - or her group's, her _friends_ ' - safety. What an arrogant child - a _girl_ , even - to think that there would be no possibility of danger lurking about, even in what was said to be an isolated district. How over her head had she been, thinking that the only potential threat in the world - in _her_ world, to her _life_ \- was her _homeroom teacher_?

A strange taste stings her tongue, her mouth (it's probably guilt, she muses with scorn for no other than herself) - it becomes simply _acrid_ when Akabane Karma falls to the ground after being struck with a metal pipe on the back of his neck right in front of her eyes, and all she can do is just stare at his fallen figure with her legs frozen in place. He falls a few steps from where she stood, and the sound of his limp body hitting the cement is loud, clear, and also _echoing_ in her ears.

She had to _help_ him.

But she couldn't even find the strength to scream against the grubby hand that clamped itself forcefully over her mouth, nor struggle free from the tight grip on her forearm.

All that she could do as she was dragged away was watch Sugino Tomohito crumbling to the ground, doubling over in pain after one of the highschoolers struck his stomach harshly with his knee; and Nagisa Shiota dropping down to his knees after he had been punched in the face. Perhaps the only good thing the two had going for them so far was they were both still _conscious_ , and the highschoolers seemed to enjoy the sight of them reveling in pain instead of adding their injuries.

Akabane was a different matter - her amber eyes quiver, but Yukiko couldn't bring herself to look away as she attempted to check if _his_ body was still there, and _if_ he was still breathing.

(She doesn't get to see him as the car door slammed shut on her face though, leaving her and Kayano in the darkness.)


End file.
